Draco's Angels

Surprises are the Keys to Mystery

                 

A man sat behind his desk, wear and exhaustion covering his face. He had barely gotten any sleep in over a year. He rose to take another look at the tree connecting him to his vile father. The same father who ruined his life, and his mother's, would always be connected to him by blood. In his mind, his blood was worthless; the equivalent of mud running through his veins. Suddenly, his mind turned around to a completely different direction. The man thought of holding a baby, his baby. He imagined hugging the mother of his child, watching their little one run through the park.

A new portrait had appeared on the family tapestry.

After 9 hours of labor, plus 30 minutes of waiting time after, Hermione was finally holding her precious baby girl. Born at 33 weeks and 5 days gestation, Leslie was considered slightly premature. She only needed a C-PAP machine for a little while but she could eat on her own and keep her own body heat. Weighing 1633 grams (6 pounds, 10 ounces) and measuring 43.7 cm (17.2 inches) she was very underweight. It was conveniently the middle of winter, since Hermione needed to keep Leslie in warmer, more insulated clothes for the first month or so while she put on some weight. It was just after 8 in the morning on Friday, January 15th. Hermione had sent Ginny off to get Harry and print at least one birth announcement for Hermione to put on her bulletin board. Finally, Ginny returned and Hermione saw the announcement.

Welcome

Leslie Rane

Born on

January 15th, 1999

6 Pounds

10 Ounces

17 Inches long

With love

Hermione Granger

Harry looked carefully at Leslie. "Wow, look at those eyes! Where does that kind of color come from?" Ginny leaned in to get a closer look.

"He's right, 'Mione. That's a pretty remarkable color."

"I guess, I just didn't think about it." Leslie's eyes were a bright blue-grey color that contrasted her pale skin. Hermione had known instantly that Leslie wouldn't have her hair color, she guessed something more like her father's lighter brown color. Or maybe a strawberry blonde since Ron had red hair.

A few days later, Hermione was finally taking Leslie home. One more shopping spree was deemed necessary by Ginny since none of the other clothes would fit. Hermione persuaded her to keep it small since they wouldn't be going anywhere anyway, and she'd probably grow fast too. So, Leslie was wearing a small, breathable gown and swaddled in a baby blanket. Hermione refused to get home by any other method than driving, so she drove and had Ginny hold Leslie in the backseat. Harry sat beside Ginny and he seemed completely unable of pulling his eyes away from Leslie. His wife was also looking at her, but with less intensity and more love.

At Hermione's flat, Harry spoke for the first time in days. "Not to burst your bubble, but you know who she looks a lot like?"

"Who?" Ginny asked. "Her mum?" Leslie cooed as Ginny tickled her chest.

"No," Harry hesitated, "Malfoy."

Hermione dropped the pin she was hanging the birth announcement with and froze. Ginny called her name and Harry went to get her out of her haze, but her eyes were glazed over. Finally, she came to from whatever she was thinking of. "T-that's simply impossible. He is a pureblooded wizard and Ron isn't that closely related to him. I think that you're having s-some k-kind of hallucination or mis-reading her face, or-or s-something like that."

"Uh, Harry, could you go home and start getting supper ready?" Ginny asked and shot him a special look, the kind that told Harry to get out if he wanted to keep his legs. As Harry left, Ginny and Hermione went to put Leslie to sleep. "Now, spill."

"Spill what? There's nothing to tell!" Hermione avoided all eye contact with Ginny and all color drained from her face.

"Uh-huh, sure. You are still the worst liar that I have ever met, or have even heard of! I know there's something that you aren't telling, and it's going to come out now. Now, what's this about Malfoy?" Ginny pulled Hermione into the sitting room as she spoke.

"Fine." Hermione sighed. "There was one night, with him, after the war. The day after, at the party that we had to celebrate our victory. One thing lead to another, and we ended up..." She put her face into her hands as tears filled her eyes. "I am so ashamed," she admitted. "I guess I had a few too many drinks. I doubt he even remembers it. This wasn't supposed to happen. The likelihood of this was just so low anyway, I wasn't thinking when it happened."

"You need to tell him! Now!" Hermione started to protest but Ginny cut her off. "I don't care what you say, he needs to know. If anyone goes near that family tapestry they will definitely see the new portrait and the last name."

"I can't do it, Ginny. You know I can't do that." Hermione sobbed. Ginny's comforting arm around her shoulder helped her to calm down.

Within an hour, Hermione was calmed down and had sent Ginny home with instructions to get her rest and come back in the morning. She went into Leslie's nursery and bent down to kiss her forehead. The baby girl opened her eyes slowly and gazed at her mother. There was no use denying it, she was practically his doppelgänger. Two years ago, Hermione would have attacked anyone that said this would happen. Two years ago, his face and voice filled her heart with ice and hatred. Now, she thought of him and it thawed her heart. He had changed so much. But his face on her beautiful daughter, that filled her with joy. So much joy that it seemed impossible that anyone could love this much. Unable to pull herself from her beautiful offspring, Hermione sat on the rocking chair in the corner and drifted off with grey dragons filling her dreams.